Friday Afternoon’s Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades: Alibaba, Amgen, Applied Materials, Delta Air, Macy’s, Snowflake, Walmart and More

Markets were somewhat mixed on Friday, with the Dow taking a dip while the Nasdaq and S&P 500 were holding positive. Although there were no economic reports Friday morning, jobless claims from Thursday were especially positive, reaching a pandemic-era low, signaling more economic recovery.

24/7 Wall St. is reviewing some big analyst calls seen on Friday. We have included the latest call on each stock, as well as a recent trading history and the consensus targets among analysts. Note that analyst calls seen earlier in the day were on Gilead Sciences, Nvidia, Pfizer, Target, Victoria’s Secret and more.

Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. (NYSE: BABA): CLSA reiterated an Outperform rating and cut the price target to $250 from $273. Credit Suisse also reiterated an Outperform rating, and it cut the price target from $192 to $182. BofA Securities and Citigroup each reiterated their Buy ratings. The former cut its $254 price target to $209, while the latter trimmed its target from $240 to $234. Shares were trading around $142 on Friday, and the consensus target price is $235.35.

Allstate Corp. (NYSE: ALL): Jefferies initiated coverage with a Hold rating and a $121 price target. Shares were last seen near $112 on Friday, and they have a 52-week range of $99.92 to $140.00.

American International Group Inc. (NYSE: AIG): Jefferies started coverage with a Buy rating and a $64 price target. The consensus price target is $63.00, and shares were trading near $55 apiece.

Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ: AMGN): BMO Capital Markets started coverage with a Market Perform rating and a $228 price target. Shares were around $204 on Friday, and the consensus price target is $244.81.

Applied Materials Inc. (NASDAQ: AMAT): BofA Securities, Deutsche Bank, Needham and Stifel each reiterated a Buy rating. They all raised their price targets as well: BofA Securities to $175 from $170, Deutsche Bank to $170 from $160, Needham to $166 from $153 and Stifel to $189 from $180. The 52-week trading range is $76.68 to $159.00, and shares were last seen near $153.

Bath & Body Works Inc. (NYSE: BBWI): Citigroup, MKM Partners and UBS each reiterated a Buy rating and raised their price targets: Citigroup to $100 from $85, MKM Partners to $89 from $78 and UBS to $98 from $90. Shares were trading near $76, and the 52-week range is $29.18 to $82.00.

Biogen Inc. (NASDAQ: BIIB): BMO Capital Markets started coverage with an Outperform rating and a $315 price target. The 52-week range is $238.40 to $468.55, and the share price was near $255 on last look.

Delta Air Lines Inc. (NYSE: DAL): Wolfe Research upgraded the stock to an Outperform rating from Peer Perform. The 52-week trading range is $36.97 to $52.28, and the share price was near $39.

Kohl’s Corp. (NYSE: KSS): Morgan Stanley reiterated an Underweight rating and raised the price target to $50 from $48. Citigroup reiterated a Buy rating and raised its target to $73 from $67. BofA Securities reiterated an Underperform rating and raised the $48 price target to $55. And Credit Suisse reiterated a Neutral rating and raised the target from $61 to $70. The consensus target is $67.43. The stock was trading on Friday above $59.

Macy’s Inc. (NYSE: M): Morgan Stanley reiterated an Underweight rating and raised the price target to $23 from $21. Citigroup reiterated a Sell rating and raised its target to $29 from $20. BofA Securities reiterated an Underperform rating and raised the $21 price target to $25. Credit Suisse reiterated an Underperform rating and raised the price target from $19 to $32. Cowen reiterated an Outperform rating, and it raised its $37 price target to $45. Shares were trading near $35 on Friday, and the consensus price target is $30.56.

Palo Alto Networks Inc. (NASDAQ: PANW): JMP Securities reiterated a Market Perform rating and raised the price target to $585 from $550. Morgan Stanley and Piper Sandler each reiterated an Overweight rating and lifted their $600 price targets to $660 and $675, respectively. Meanwhile, Wedbush reiterated an Outperform rating and raised its $600 price target to $630. Shares were trading near $526, and the consensus target price is $569.02.

Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ: REGN): BMO Capital Markets resumed coverage with an Outperform rating and a $780 price target. Shares were trading shy of $650 on Friday, and the consensus price target is $703.29.

Snowflake Inc. (NYSE: SNOW): Though Rosenblatt downgraded the data storage stock to Neutral from Buy, the firm also raised the price target to $370 from $300. The 52-week range is $184.71 to $429.00, and the share price was near $397.

Tapestry Inc. (NYSE: TPR): Argus upgraded the luxury fashion stock to Buy from Hold and has a $54 price target. The 52-week trading range is $27.66 to $49.67, and the share price was near $46.

Walmart Inc. (NYSE: WMT): The MKM Partners upgrade to Buy from Neutral included a price target hike to $166 from $156. Credit Suisse resumed coverage with an Outperform rating and a $166 price target. The consensus target is $169.55. The stock was trading on Friday above $143.

With the prospect of continued low interest rates for the foreseeable future, and the stock market extremely risky and overbought, it makes sense for investors to have solid assets like real estate. Six top real estate investment trusts pay dependable distributions near or above the 5% level.

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